Sarah Kokernot
@sarahkokernot.bsky.social
Writer | Grant writer & consultant at StoryStudio | Words in NYT, Best American Short Stories, Tricycle, EPOCH | Above my raisin’
Fiction writer, essayist, secret poet sarahkokernot.com
A newsletter on Buddhism’s wild side 🍃
sarahkokernot.substack.com
Fiction writer, essayist, secret poet sarahkokernot.com
A newsletter on Buddhism’s wild side 🍃
sarahkokernot.substack.com
Pinned
Sarah Kokernot is writer, teacher, and creative facilitator.
Sarah Kokernot is a writer, teacher, and creative facilitator. She offers workshops and one-on-one practical and intuitive guidance and support to anyone seeking to refresh or deepen their writing, sp...
www.sarahkokernot.com
I had so much fun designing my website and writing the copy that I'm now fighting the delusion that I can make money doing this as my fifth side-hustle. www.sarahkokernot.com
Teasel in its winter dress 🩵
November 23, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Teasel in its winter dress 🩵
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
Durham, NC tonight. A massive and righteously joyful crowd. So so many young people.
November 22, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Durham, NC tonight. A massive and righteously joyful crowd. So so many young people.
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
I said as much to some comrades a couple of days ago who were lamenting that he was going to the White House. He went to buy some time for what will be an eventual invasion of NYC by the fascist.
November 21, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I said as much to some comrades a couple of days ago who were lamenting that he was going to the White House. He went to buy some time for what will be an eventual invasion of NYC by the fascist.
This was incredibly entertaining to read and it would have gotten a hearty 300 likes and at least 20 separate rants back in the day.
What even was literary Twitter? Vote in the first round of our bracket to determine the literary internet’s wildest, weirdest, most iconic moment!
What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket
We are gathered here to celebrate the brief, bright, Roman Candle life of Literary Twitter, a mesmerizing and maddening place where the most talented writers used to rub shoulders with the most unb…
buff.ly
November 18, 2025 at 2:13 PM
This was incredibly entertaining to read and it would have gotten a hearty 300 likes and at least 20 separate rants back in the day.
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
Something lovely to start the week! 🐙🏺❤️
Ancient clay pots with octopus decoration, made by artisans from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago!
Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me
#Archaeology
Ancient clay pots with octopus decoration, made by artisans from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago!
Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me
#Archaeology
November 17, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Something lovely to start the week! 🐙🏺❤️
Ancient clay pots with octopus decoration, made by artisans from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago!
Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me
#Archaeology
Ancient clay pots with octopus decoration, made by artisans from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago!
Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me
#Archaeology
I always like writing something, putting it aside, and then looking at it two weeks later. I’m always smarter two weeks later.
November 16, 2025 at 10:39 PM
I always like writing something, putting it aside, and then looking at it two weeks later. I’m always smarter two weeks later.
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
Antonio Pérez de Aguilar, Artist's Cupboard, c. 1769 (Museo Nacional de Arte INBA, Mexico City)
November 15, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Antonio Pérez de Aguilar, Artist's Cupboard, c. 1769 (Museo Nacional de Arte INBA, Mexico City)
A book group in Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Mighty Red, commenting on Eat, Pray, Love: “As for the pray part, I kind of asked myself, why go to India to get enlightened when you can stay home and be a Catholic?” 🔥
November 15, 2025 at 7:17 PM
A book group in Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Mighty Red, commenting on Eat, Pray, Love: “As for the pray part, I kind of asked myself, why go to India to get enlightened when you can stay home and be a Catholic?” 🔥
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
Once, as a grad student in Las Vegas, I sat in the back of a Subaru sandwiched between Edmund White & Joyce Carol Oates & her enormous visor & she was TERRIFYING (complimentary)
November 11, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Once, as a grad student in Las Vegas, I sat in the back of a Subaru sandwiched between Edmund White & Joyce Carol Oates & her enormous visor & she was TERRIFYING (complimentary)
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
November 14, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
From LOLITA itself: "An expression of pain flitted across Lo’s face... I asked her what was the matter. “Nothing, you brute,”... This was an orphan. This was a lone child, an absolute waif, with whom a heavy-limbed, foul-smelling adult had had strenuous intercourse three times that very morning."
![From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
J [jeevacation@gmail.com] 11/25/2018 11:56:06 PM
Elisa New
Re: invitation
count how many times you say I or me?
On Sun, Nov 25, 2018 at 7:30 PM Lisa New [redacted portion, probably email address]
> wrote:
Jeffrey,
How's this
On Sun, Nov 25, 2018 at 11:05 AM J <jeevacation@gmail.com> wrote:
Needs edit. Start with id like you to join clinton ..eyc
On Sun, Nov 25, 2018 at 10:52 AM Lisa New [Redacted strip, probably email address]
Dear Jeffrey,
Here is an invitation you can forward. Fingers crossed.
wrote:
I'm going upstairs to hunt for my copy of Lolita, or will get on my kindle and reread on our way to Australia. I may have lent it to one of my kids. I would recommend reading My Antonia by Cather next time you're on a long plane trip. The prose is gorgeous, and the book has-- come to think of it-- similar themes to Lolita in that it's about a man whose whole life is stamped forever by his impression of a young girl.
Thank you for this help with Serena. I'm so sorry about what happened with WA. I will keep the "bootleg" episode and hope to release someday. It's so good, and he was so kind to read the poem with me and you were so kind to make it happen.
Lisa
Elisa New
Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature
Director, Poetry in America
Harvard University
148 Barker Center 12 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138
[Redacted line]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sva5ad6pbtkgrdrqyej2fe2f/bafkreiee4q3ehsh72mwc22f2mqwushrl4wo2jkudn4e4eaihaucx33uqyq@jpeg)
November 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM
From LOLITA itself: "An expression of pain flitted across Lo’s face... I asked her what was the matter. “Nothing, you brute,”... This was an orphan. This was a lone child, an absolute waif, with whom a heavy-limbed, foul-smelling adult had had strenuous intercourse three times that very morning."
“I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.”
- Carl Sandburg, “Chicago”
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.”
- Carl Sandburg, “Chicago”
November 12, 2025 at 2:10 PM
“I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.”
- Carl Sandburg, “Chicago”
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.”
- Carl Sandburg, “Chicago”
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
This point absolutely correct and I will add that Mamdani demonstrates that an insurgency, even one with real moral clarity and anger at the status quo, can still be cheerful and inviting.
November 11, 2025 at 1:22 PM
This point absolutely correct and I will add that Mamdani demonstrates that an insurgency, even one with real moral clarity and anger at the status quo, can still be cheerful and inviting.
Writing is never as hard when there is a real deep love for your work 💘 I can’t wait to teach this four-week class in February on falling in love (or back in love) with your writing! @storystudiochicago.bsky.social
Fall In Love (or Back in Love) With Your Writing with Sarah Kokernot - StoryStudio Chicago
In this class, we’ll learn how to fall in love (or back in love) with our writing through a generative, expansive set of playful exercises.
www.storystudiochicago.org
November 10, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Writing is never as hard when there is a real deep love for your work 💘 I can’t wait to teach this four-week class in February on falling in love (or back in love) with your writing! @storystudiochicago.bsky.social
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
"Unlike stories, real life, when it has passed, inclines towards obscurity, not clarity."
-Elena Ferrante
Amongst the final sentences of the final passage in the Neapolitan Quartet.
-Elena Ferrante
Amongst the final sentences of the final passage in the Neapolitan Quartet.
November 8, 2025 at 8:53 PM
"Unlike stories, real life, when it has passed, inclines towards obscurity, not clarity."
-Elena Ferrante
Amongst the final sentences of the final passage in the Neapolitan Quartet.
-Elena Ferrante
Amongst the final sentences of the final passage in the Neapolitan Quartet.
I wrote this piece for anyone who has questions about how solitary dharma practice benefits others, and why practicing outside of group settings should not be considered selfish or isolated or self-help. I look at how meditating alone in a cave for forty years can help awaken the whole world.
No Solitary Dharma Practitioners — Sarah Kokernot
A friend of mine, Ryan Rose Weaver, has a wonderful Substack, In Tending , on caregiving, creativity, and contemplative practice. She interviewed me for a newsletter and we talked a lo...
www.sarahkokernot.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I wrote this piece for anyone who has questions about how solitary dharma practice benefits others, and why practicing outside of group settings should not be considered selfish or isolated or self-help. I look at how meditating alone in a cave for forty years can help awaken the whole world.
I curated a list of some of my favorite things I read/heard/saw lately and put them in post. Highlights include: books on spiritual ecology, a short piece on solitary dharma practice, links to non-dual activist resources, Sufi poetry with translation, a link a soberly funny pep talk for writers ❤️
The Curio Cabinet of Dharma & Spirituality
A curation of dharma, spirituality, & writing resources
substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:47 PM
I curated a list of some of my favorite things I read/heard/saw lately and put them in post. Highlights include: books on spiritual ecology, a short piece on solitary dharma practice, links to non-dual activist resources, Sufi poetry with translation, a link a soberly funny pep talk for writers ❤️
Excited that we can finally share the news! So proud to work with the amazing team at @storystudiochicago.bsky.social! 🫶🏼
HUGE ANNOUCEMENT: We are beside ourselves with excitement to share with you that we've been awarded a $100,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
November 6, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Excited that we can finally share the news! So proud to work with the amazing team at @storystudiochicago.bsky.social! 🫶🏼
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
Halfway through the second draft of a novel, wandering my house unshowered and unshaved, muttering John Barth's "mere busyness in a story’s middle does not necessarily advance the plot" over and over...
November 6, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Halfway through the second draft of a novel, wandering my house unshowered and unshaved, muttering John Barth's "mere busyness in a story’s middle does not necessarily advance the plot" over and over...
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
Recent major dudes / lesser demons
November 5, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Recent major dudes / lesser demons
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
I like that republicans keep calling mamdani a “literal communist” because they’ve been calling everyone to the left of william mckinley a communist for a hundred years and they need to distinguish
November 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I like that republicans keep calling mamdani a “literal communist” because they’ve been calling everyone to the left of william mckinley a communist for a hundred years and they need to distinguish
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
WOW. A federal judge says he's going to issue a Temporary Restraining Order requiring ICE to make changes at the Broadview facility in Chicago, a facility that until January was only for stays under 12 hours "absent exceptional circumstances," but has become, in Judge Gettleman's words, "a prison."
U.S. Robert Gettleman is now giving his thoughts. He says, "I think the evidence has been pretty strong that this facility is no longer just a temporary holding facility. …
"It has really become a prison."
"It has really become a prison."
DOJ's Jana Brady steps up next but says she'll largely "rest on our brief that we filed."
She wants any TRO to not "interfere with the executive branch."
She wants any TRO to not "interfere with the executive branch."
November 4, 2025 at 10:29 PM
WOW. A federal judge says he's going to issue a Temporary Restraining Order requiring ICE to make changes at the Broadview facility in Chicago, a facility that until January was only for stays under 12 hours "absent exceptional circumstances," but has become, in Judge Gettleman's words, "a prison."
Reposted by Sarah Kokernot
And again, a pattern of putting out statements accusing people of serious Federal crimes and then releasing them hours or days or weeks later with no charges. And no retraction.
NEWS: Federal agents crashed with woman’s car, pointed guns at her, dragged her out by legs, tossed her in a minivan, held her and (eventually) let her go without charges. This as Chicagoans say the immigration blitz is out of control. (DHS blames her.)
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/03/c...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/03/c...
Chicago woman dragged out of her car after colliding with ICE demands accountability
The arrest of Dayanne Figueroa highlights growing concerns about the use of force against U.S. citizens and due process. She was released after a few hours without charges.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:32 PM
And again, a pattern of putting out statements accusing people of serious Federal crimes and then releasing them hours or days or weeks later with no charges. And no retraction.
I had so much fun designing my website and writing the copy that I'm now fighting the delusion that I can make money doing this as my fifth side-hustle. www.sarahkokernot.com
Sarah Kokernot is writer, teacher, and creative facilitator.
Sarah Kokernot is a writer, teacher, and creative facilitator. She offers workshops and one-on-one practical and intuitive guidance and support to anyone seeking to refresh or deepen their writing, sp...
www.sarahkokernot.com
November 2, 2025 at 8:09 PM
I had so much fun designing my website and writing the copy that I'm now fighting the delusion that I can make money doing this as my fifth side-hustle. www.sarahkokernot.com